Colombian musician Cesar Lopez holds a guitar made of a rifle of a demobilized paramilitary member in Bogota, Colombia, Jan. 18, 2006. (AP/ William Fernando Martinez)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - It has a long barrel and wooden butt, but there's no confusing this shotgun with grandpa's Winchester. For starters, the only thing it fires is music. And to get one, you either need to be a rock star or have $13,000 US to spare. Called the "escopetarra" - Spanish for "shotgun guitar" - it's an electric guitar transformed from a once deadly weapon reclaimed through Colombia's peace process.

Cesar Lopez, a Bogota musician, got the idea for the instrument after a bombing three years ago killed 36 people and wounded more than a hundred at a social club in the capital.

"With a group of artists we rushed to the rescue site to play music as a form of protest against violence," said Lopez, 32. "I was holding a guitar while standing next to an armed soldier and I realized how similar we looked."

Since then, Lopez has handcrafted five of the eye-catching instruments, which cost about $1,000 to make. He gave one to Grammy-winning Colombian rocker Juanes and another to Argentine musician Fito Paez.

Now the Colombian government is enlisting the shotgun guitar as part of its campaign to bring an end to 41 years of armed insurgency by leftist guerrillas.

On Jan. 18, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos handed Lopez two AK-47 assault rifles that until recently belonged to a group of outlawed, right-wing paramilitary fighters involved in the country's long-running conflict.

The weapons were turned in when 552 members of the Central Bolivar Bloc of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia laid down their arms in December, joining 21,500 other illegal fighters who have demobilized the past three years under a peace deal with the government.

"It's an eerie feeling when you grip the weapon - there are notches under their barrels to mark how many people the combatant killed," said Lopez.

With the government's backing, Lopez hopes to make 100 weapon guitars by the end of the year.

Carlos Santana and Paul McCartney are on a long list of musicians who have requested one of their own, the vice president said. The first recipient will be Colombian pop singer and Latin crossover sensation Shakira.

"These weapons which have caused so much pain, damage and death will be resurrected as instruments of love, colour, life and creativity," Santos said.

It remains to be seen whether parents and family values groups will view the instrument as an anti-war symbol or criticize it as another example of the music industry's glorification of violence.

The government plans to donate each weapon free, in exchange for each musician's promise to speak out against violence and serve as a goodwill ambassador on behalf of Colombia's peace process.

Spreading such gospel might not be easy.

When he brought his escopetarra along on a recent national tour, Juanes faced numerous delays fending off the curious looks and inquiries of vigilant Colombian police accustomed to spotting hidden weapons.

By contrast, sneaking the instrument into the United States was a breeze, said Juanes' manager, Fernan Martinez.

"Everyone was scared of getting caught, but a roadie packed it away with the rest of the instruments and nobody said a thing," Martinez said.

After passing through customs in Los Angeles, the guitar fetched $13,000 at an auction hosted by Paul McCartney to benefit Adopt-A-Minefield, which supports United Nations efforts to remove land mines.

Juanes' sponsor, guitar maker Fender, is now working on a more technically polished version of the escopetarra, Martinez said.

For Lopez, whose musical career has been marked more by experimental endeavours than commercial success, the attention is a welcome surprise. But he isn't completely at ease with how his escopetarras have reached the political stage.

"It started as a very small, innocent, personal gesture," he said. "I never thought it would be paying the phone bill let alone be held up as a political symbol."